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KASTMAN TIMES. A Refl Live Country Paper. rUULISHED EVERY THURSDAY MORNING —BY— IX. s. BURT O J\r. TKUMS OF SUBSCRIPTION: One copy, one year $2.00 One (opv, six months 1.00 Jen copies, in clubs, one year, each 1.50 Single copies 5 eta CHECKMATED. Crimson C'*' leart of the M>a coal lire, jirHf-ie and I in (he ruddy glow, H> r mother reads, and the old grandsire Dreams of his youth iu the “ long ago.” fniitt and warmth and love in the room, Now or never my unit, to pnt-K ; Win-re hyacinths shed their sweet perfume \v play two games—one love—one chess. qii. rii of the red and queen of my heart, Win n will you wear my golden ring? phishing her checks the roses start. Slyly she iniumurs, “ Cheek to your king.” My paws advance, press on and die; l he bishops battle in lines oblique; Mv brave knights fall; but I can’t tell why My heart grows strong as my game grows weak. Darling, answer me, lift your eyes! Your mother rleeps and the time approves, Speak, sweet mouth, with a glad surprise; “ You’ll be mated, sir, in thieo more moves.” Then let this be one—and her dimpled hand Looks all the fairer for plain gold ring ; In vaiu 1 rally my scattered band As again she checks my poor lost king. Nearer her dark brows curls to mine, The chessmen seem in dark eclipse, *• Check ! ” shall I die and make no sign ? And I steal a kiss from her ripe red lips. “ Mate!” and her joyous eyes proclaim Who wins in love and who in chess; And the pride of my life is the golden came That was lost when I won my golden Bess. MR. SPARKS AND HIS GHOST. “No, sir. You must come down a pop. You can’t get work because you are looking for something genteel. There is plenty of work, Amt you are afraid of it. There are hundreds of young men like you, crying out in bitterness that there is nothing to do, when there is much to do. When a man’s family is starving, ho cannot afford to be genteel or fastidious. He ought to be willing to do anything. If I were a man, I would find something to do, and I would do it. If you don’t find something to do, 1 will, iam sick and tired of this, miserable complaining and moping.” So declaimed Miss Jane Ann Sparks, aged forty, to her nephew, Charles Sum ner Sparks, aged twenty. Miss Sparks was not a hard nor au unjust woman. She prided herself on her discrimina tion in dealing out sympathy and kind words, and she had made many sacri fices for other people. She was now in charge of the family of a deceased brother, who left an invalid wife and several children. Miss Sparks had de voted two of the best years of her life to this family as a pure love offering, and they knew that she had managed well. But Miss Sparks was desperate now. The winter was upon them, and Charley lmd been out of work for weeks, and the younger boys were idling and shivering about the streets, looking in vain for something to do. There was no fuel in the house, and there were no provisions. Charles had been well to do, and had had for some years a good place and an easy time. His aunt knew that he lmd tried earnestly to secure employment, and that ho was miserable because he could not. She knew that lie had done everything about the bouse that it was possible for him to uo ; that the house had never been in such good repair ; the yard and sidewalks never so clean ; the fence and gate in such good order. But what did this amount to, with only bread and potatoes for breakfast, and nothing in the house for dinner ? So her words were tinged with reproach. She was vexed, too, because Charley had not jumped at an offer male in the morning paper (which she had borrowed from a neighbor) : “Wanted, eight good looking, well dressed young men for special duty. Good wages will be paid, and strict per formance of duty demanded. Apply at Opera House Block, Room 0.” Miss Sparks was vexed because Char lr\ would uot see rare promise in this offer, and because he had said in his dismal, disconsolate way : “Humbug! No use to apply there, t here will be three hundred men clam oring for the place.” But under the influence of his aunt’s tinging words lie said he would go, and lie would take the ]>lace if it was to hang a man. His aunt put out his best clothes, and brushed liis coat aud hat herself, Believing that in this one case, at least, it was necessary to be genteel. ('barley found a crowd about Ivoom 9, hut the men were going away with shakes of the head. He was assured jhat only four of the eight men had been secured, and that the four were idiots; that no sensible i; au would take place. Charley was glad in'his heart that no sensible man would. There was Gi:i a chance, and he pressed forward into the room ready to do anything. A large, red-faeed, decidedly jolly md decidedly emphatic man was master < i ceremonies. He whs engaged in ty ’ g upon the back of a man a large p ueard, four feet long, upon which t h irles Sumner Sparks read : *** • • • Ghost ! Ghost ! ; Ghost ! ; ■A. Boat Ghost at J.ast! ; Ghost! Ghost! ; Ghost ! Pepper's Ghost To-night. ; 1 his man's ghost Hill appear to-night at ; the Opera House. ; 1 -ike a good look at him, ad then go and ; see liis ghost to-night for fifty cents. * I-he man, with one huge card in front ■" and one behind, was to parade the prin , : p:i! streets for eight hours, and to re vive lor this service one dollar and a !l:l '• Could yoimg Air. Sparks, toler !1, . W °B known iu the city, do it? He ‘.“'bd an d would ; and with many a joke ' v the facetious manager, he was pla ' 'ded and with seven others started for “ street. Three of the men threw off cards before they had made their " iv through the jeering crowd at the J-trance. The others, shamefaced and H t<>od at last upon tlie street, and !, ceived their orders. Charley com llced his day’s work, feeling a little ' 'r but firm in his resolve to go ' 'Ugh with it. He first received the j' 1 ''ntion of the bootblacks and news- These enterprising individuals i'l lowed him with iifereasing interest. I,>lr comments were calculated to r °u s c resentful feelings. ( r °By, he’s a swell ghost in reduced Circumstances. I say, Johnny, you’d 1 "Or black boots than do that.” Charley thought so himself. Then s t°pped to read and wonder. " hat a dolt a man is when he allows mrrisclf to be used in that way. A fel ave a g° 0( l deal of brass to But the worst trial came in front of 1 'fr 3 dry goods and millinery store. fie fastmau Two Dollars Per Annum, VOLUME If. Here the ladies took position to laugh and comment. This was touching Char ley in a, sensitive point. He admired ladies with the enthusiasm of a youth of twenty years, and was anxious to have their good ouinion. He could not bear their ridicule. He hung his head, and felt that lie was disgraced for all time ; and yet he could not close his ears. “ What can possess a man to do such a thing ?” “Why, Clara, that is young Sparks, who graduated in our class last winter.” “Is it? I do believe it is. AY hat could have brought him down so low ? Drink, I suppose.” “How can such a strong, healthy, and good-looking man make himself so ridiculous! He hasn’t an atom of pride.” So commented the audience on the street, at windows, in doors, while all the time the miserable performer did his duty on the sidewalk. The scavengers stopped to laugh and ridicule. They could not understand how a man could stoop to such a busi ness. The chain-gang from the jail sneered and jeered at him. The waiters at the restaurants and hotels ; the men shoveling coal; the hod-carriers on new buildings; the apple-women, and the very beggars, all joined in coarse jokes and loud laughs at his expense. Char ley was severely tried. A hundred times he caught the cards to throw them off, but the thought of the situation at home nerved him to do anything. When he reported in the evening, he found that only one other man liad stood the test with him. He was to re ceive his pay after the performance at night—after the people had seen his ghost. He was not only to be laughed at on the street, but was* to be critically examined by the most intelligent audi ence that could be assembled in the city. He wondered if his aunt would have done suen a thing, and would she approve his action this day ? Would the feeliug that had animated him pass for pluck or for im ensibility ? That night young Sparks was behind the scenes. He was to appear in several ghost scenes, and was to take part in several interesting manoeuvres. The people saw his imago appear in air on the stage, disappear and reappear. They saw liis ghost pitilessly plain, and stud ied every feature aud the cut of his gar ments. As he stood behind the curtain, attitudinizing before the glass or mir ror, which showed his image in air, he was disconcerted by the calls and cries from the gallery : “ Tliere he is i” “ That’s the fellow !” “ How are you. Sparks !” etc., aud was as much disconcerted by the whispered comments from the more respectable part ot the audience. He indulged in one look of fierce contempt just pre vious to liis final disappearance, and while the audience were trying to ac count for this, received his dollar and a half and left the building. His aunt read, the next morning, in her borrowed paper, a facetious account of the journeyings of the ghost adver tisers the day before, and she inclined to the opinion that the men deserved all the censure and ridicule. When Charley announced that he was one of the un fortunates, she was scandalized. It would have been better to have shoveled coal all day, she thought. “Just so,” remarked her nephew; “ but where was the coal ?” Charley wondered seriously wl-iat the outcome would be, however. Would his venture in the ghost business make better or worse his chances to secure employment? This was what concerned him. People who had never noticed him before noticed him next day. Gen tlemen and ladies stole glances at him, and children did not hesitate to call at tention to him as the ghost. Nobody cared for him personally, nor for his tioubles. They paid no more attention to his applications for employment than if he had been a veritable, airy nothing. He didn’t frighten any one, but he failed to convince any one that he was a crea ture of flesh and blood iu distress. But he did secure employment-. Some shrewd tradesman took advantage of liis notoriety, and employed him as usher in his dry goods store. Charley under stood why he was employed ; and al though the whole transaction was offen sive, ho saw that liis entire stock in trade consisted of his ghost reputation, and that he must take, advantage of it. He was the figurehead to laugh at for a week, and then he did not care whether people laughed or frowned—he had his situation. His one companion in the ghost busi ness was in disgrace. He had been willing to masquerade on the street for mouey enough to buy bis supper and liquor enough to become intoxicated. The next step was the city prison, aud his case was paraded in the papeis. Of course the inference was that the other man was animated by no' higher motive. But the story, as narrated by Miss Jane Ann Sparks, became, in good time, part of the current talk at a i Lurch social; was referred to as a striking ex ample of pluck at workingmen’s meet ings ; was enlarged upon by impressible and enthusiastic young ladies; was quo ted often by Charley’s intimate friends ; and finally voung Air. Sparks looked back upon his ghost venture as one of tlio lucky steps of his life. But he lost his peace of miud for tw T o weeks and lost his first and only sweetheart, a pi quant little flirt of sixteen, who dis missed him with the information that she would not be seen with him for any thing. And this, any young man will testify, w as sufficiently severe ; and pos sibly the story of young Mr. Sparks couid not be stopped at a more provok ing point than here—where it naturally ends. —lt appears that Spain has deter mined to make the United States feel that the encouragement of Cuban insur gents is a costly business. There are to be heavier taxes on Cuban exports, and we, as consumers *of the products of Cuba, are expected to pay the increase. Perhaps we may as well go to raising tobacco and sugar for ourselves. —An Ottumwa, lowa, paper says : “ During the wind storm the other day Richard Warden, of the Courier, lost his hat, which went whirling into space, or rather into a mud hole. Richard, however, was equal to the occasion. He simply crossed his ears over his head and bid defiance to the storm. EASTMAN, DODGE CO., GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1874. FROM WASHINGTON. Conflrimition of (he Sew Secretary of tlie Treasury—Chenp Transporta tion, etc. At au executive session of the senate cn the 2d, a unanimous report was made from the committee on finances, recommending the confirmation of Gen. Bristow to be secretary of the treasury in place of Richardson, resigned. The senate, without hesitation, unanimously confirmed the nomination. Not so, how ever, with regard to the nomination of Richardson to be judge of the court of claims, which was not reported back unanimously from the committee on judiciary. During forty minutes’ ses sion views were interchanged by sena tors rather in a conversational way than by debate, the democrats openly ba sing their opposition t-o the nomination on the report of the committee on ways and means, and the accompanying testi mony in the Sanborn case in reference to him. With this exception the ques tion arose as to his fitness for the judge ship. Little was said on the republi can side, certainly no formal defense of liis cone uct of the Sanborn contracts. Finally, when the question was taken on advising and consenting to the nom ination, a number of republican sena tors in their seats declined to vote. A sufficient number of them, however, did so to carry the nomination by a small majority. If those who opposed the nomination by failiug to respond to their names had voted in the negative, tie nomination would have been re jected. The senate had been canvassed by a senatorial friend of Richardson a week before the nomination was trans mitted to the senate, when it appeared the nomination could be secured; though by a small majority. Alassa .cliusetts has two judges on the bench of the court of claims, Lorlng and Rich ardson. By invitation of the postmaster gen eral a number of the representatives of western states and territories assembled at the department on tlie 21, to aid him in determining the insufficiency of bonds forwarded by successful bidders for mail service under the last letting. Generally the sureties were considered by the representatives present to be adequate, but iu some cases bondsmen were unknown to (lie representatives, and therefore no assurance concerning them could be given. Avery small portion of the accepted bidders failed to furnish bonds for the execution of their contracts. The result is attributed to the working of the 5 per cent, de posit system. It is considered that many bonds now furnished will prove worthless, and the department favors still further amendments, so as to exact heavy penalties against the postmasters who certify that straw bonds are good and vMiicli prove iusnfficent. The substitute reported by Senator Wiudom, from the transportation com mittee, for the house bill to regulate commerce among the several states, provides that every line of railroad ex tending into or through two or more states, and employed iu carrying freight between points in different states, or from any foreign country, whether owned and operated by one or several corporations or persons, shall keep posted in each of its stations and de pots, a full classification of freights and charges per mile for every distance for which it receives freight for transporta tion, and the rates so established it shall charge in every case, excei t for government transportation and for char itable purposes, so long as said schedules remain unchanged, and thirty days’ no tice must be given of any intended eban e of schedule rates. The bill prohibits any discriminations in charges of like services performed for different shippers, or any discriminations in de livery of freight, except according to priority of shipment; also, provided that the railroad company receiving freight for Iransportafion over other road in addition to its own line, shall be responsible to the shipper for the safe delivery of freight at its destina tion. Each violation of the foregoing provisions is to be punished by a fine of not less than SSOO nor more than $5,000. Announcement is made from Wash ington that subscriptions to the new 5 per cent, loan continue to be received at the treasury, and a call for $5,000,- 009 five twenty bonds may be shortly expected. The bill passed by the senate to amend the charter of the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company provides that within ten days after its enactment the comptroller of the currency shall appoint three commissioners, who, un der the jurisdiction and control of the secretary of the treasury, shall take possession of the books and all assets of the bank and its branches, with pow er to wind up all business of said bank and its branches, and pay into the Uni ted States treasury all money realized therefrom. The comptroller of the cur rency is to declare and pay dividends as the results may justify. The commis sioners are to receive a salary of $3,000 per annum, and give bonds of $25,000 each. It is provided, however, that if in the progress of winding up, the com missioners and comptroller of currency shall at any time be of opinion that the bank can resume under its old charter, th y may, with the consent of the sec retary of the treasury, turn it over to the board of trustees, who shall then resume their present powers. Last week Air. Hurlbut, from the committee on railways and canals, called up the bill for the improvement of the mouth of the Alississippi river, and proceeded to explain and advocate it. Tlie bill authorizes James B, Eades and associates to proceed in the work of deepening the channel of one of the outlets or passes of the Alississipi river into the Gulf of Alexico, to be selected by himself, by permanent jetties, etc. — the privileges of the bill to be revoked unless within 30 months three feet is secured, aud they may subsequently be revoked unless two additional feet of water is secured each year until 26 feet are secured, and two additional feet within two years thereafter, when a channel of 28 feet in depth can be main tained with clear surface —the width to be not less than COO feet, so that ships drawing 22 feet can be safely nav igated, and two ships can pass each other in safety. The government is to pay to Eades or his legal representa tives $2,000,000, and for each additional depth of two feet an additional million dollars. The whole sum is not to ex- In God Wc 2rusl. ceed $5,000,000. Commissioners are *0 bo appointed by the president to exam ine the work, and the payments are to be made on their report, and when they report that a channel of 28 feet has been permanently established, au ad dit'onal six millions of dollars is to be paid at yearly intervals. Secretary Il.chardson has given no tice that principal and incrued interest of the bonds below designated, known as 5-20 bonds, will be paid at the treas ury of the United States, in the city of Washington, on and after the 3d of Sep tember, 1874, and that the interest on said bonds will cease on that day : Coupon bonds, known as third series, act of Feb. 25, 1862, dated Alay 1. 1862, as follows : Coupon bonds, SSO. No. 1,061 to No. 12,100, both inclusive; SIOO, No. 34,001 to 37,400, both inclu sive; SSOO, No. 17,601 to No. 19,300, both inclusive ; SI,OOO, No. 41,001 to No. 46,100, both inclusive. Total, $4,- 500,000. Registered bonds : SSO, No. 1,411 to No. 1.450, both inclusive; SIOO, No. 10,561 to 10,680, both inclusive ; SSOO, No. 6,301 to No. 6,390, both inclusive ; SI,OOO, No. 25,651-to No. 26,100, both inclusive; $5,000, No. 8,101 to 8,300, both inclusive ; $10,600, No. 10,321 to 10,459, both inclusive. Total, $500,000. Grand total, $5,000,000. United States securities, forwarded for redemption, should be addressed to the loan division of the secretary’s of fice, and all registered bonds should be assigned to the secretary of the treas ury, for redemption. The house committee on reformation in the civil service have adopted a reso lution that they do not recommend any further appropriations, to carry on or experiment iu the so called civil service reform, iu the manner in which it has been carried on. The senate committee on commerce has decided to recommend the insertion of an item in the river and harbor ap propriation bill of $250,000 for the re moval of obstructions from the Chatta hoochee and Flint rivers in Georgia. The reciprocy treaty with Canada has been submitted by the president to the senate. Its main features are the fr<. e interchange of mineral and manufactured products, the freedom of the Canadian canals and the St. Lawrence, Lake Alich igan being opened to Canadians, and a joint commission to regulate the St. Clair flats. The committee on elections, by a vote of 6 to 5, have agreed not to refer the resolution of Hazelton, reciting that Cannon had proved to be a polygamist aud had married one of liis wives since the passage of the anti polygamy law of 1862, and, therefore, should be expelled. The committee also voted down a reso lution postponing ail action iu the case, but it is generally believed that further consideration of the question will be postponed until next session. The Eucalyptus. The Blue Gum tree (Eucalyptus glob ulus), which is exciting a good deal of attention among agriculturalists iu Europe, is a native of Australia and a membtrof the Myrtle family (Mgrta cece). it was introduced into Algeria eleven years ago, and, during the last seven years, extensive plantations have been cultivated in that country. It flourishes luxuriantly in this new habitat, and trees of only seven years’ growth from the seed have reached an average height of 50 feet, although nourished by very poor soil. It is an evergreen tree, with a straight stem, crowned at the summit with spreading bushes, bearing willow-like leaves. Iu their native forests these trees often nse to the height of 200 feet, with their shafts clear of branches for from 100 to 150 feet, and resembling so many elegant columns irregularly scattered about, and intercepting the view at the distance <fa few hundred yards. These Eacalyptic groves are especi ally grateful on the barren plains of Bcirbary. By their growth marshy lands are drained, and sun-baked spots are shadowed and provided with moist ure. Their blossoms are filled with honey, which attracts multitudes of in sects ; and they in turn invite the birds, who find not only an abundance of food but the warmth of leafy coverts in win ter, and shelter from the fierce heat of the sun in summer. The trees exhale a fragrance which is described as delight fully resinous and pungent. They are said to possess also various mecticinal virtues. Baths in a decoction of the leaves and branches are said to remove rheu matic pains, aud neuralgia, and to pro mote recovery from the debility leit by the malaria incidental to the country. There is no doubt that the tree has properties which give it efficiency in cases of fever. Its bark yields tannin, and also au oil which is serviceble in tlie arts. Attempts have been made to cultivate the tree in England. A plant seven years old, in the gardens of the Royal Botanical Society, has attained a height of 15 feet. But it is thought that, except in the extreme south or west of the island, the tree will not en dure the low temperature of the ordi nary English winter. The Eucalyptus is allied to the pome granate ; the Guava tree; the Coryo phyllus aromatica, whose dried flower buds are the cloves of commerce ; the Pimento, whose berries are known un der the name of allspice ; and the Aki. or Lignum-Vitas, of New Zealand. The entire Myrtle family, numbering about 300 species, are natives of tropical coun tries, iu the kew and the old world. —A deserted wretch writes in the Cincinnati Times : “ The Buckeye girl flirts desperately down to the proposal. Then she accepts, or she refuses, and the young man is turned out like to an empty ass to shake his ears and graze in commons. But, across the river, the Kentucky girl looks upon the engage ment as really the beginning of the flirtation, aod promptly accepts every offer of marriage, flirts* in the liveliest manner with her affimeed, and ‘shakes him’ only after the day is set. If she is engaged to three or four young gentle men at once, it makes it all the mor interesting. The Ohio girl flirts with many, and plights her troth to but one. The Kentucky girl plights her troth to a great many, and marries but one.” —The good man’s life, like the moun tain top, looks beautiful because it is near to heaven. ICELAND. Its Scenery and its People-The Home ot Peso ntion. James Bryce, an English scholar, spent two mouths in far-away Iceland last summer, and gives in the* Cornliill Magazine a vivid description of that country, which is becoming interesting to Americans through the immigration of a considerable number of its inhabi tants to our more kind.y clime. Iceland i most easily described by negatives. There are no trees, though apparently there were plenty in the tenth century, when we hear of men hiding among them and being hanged from them. No corn is grown, nor any other crop, except a few turnips aud potatoes, which taste only half-ripe. The only wild quadrupeds are the blue fox (who has probably come, as the white bear now and then does, on ice floes from Greenland), and the rein deer—the latter introduced about a cen tury ago, and still uncommon, ranging over the desert mountains. There is no town except the capital, a city of 1,800 people, no other place deserving to be called even a village, unless it be the hamlet of Akureyri, on the shore of the Arctic ocean, with some fifty houses ; no inn (save one in that village whose resources consist of two beds, a single jug and basin, and a billiard-table); no hens, ducks or geese (except wild geese), no pigs, no donkeys, no roads, no car riages, no shops, no manufactures, no dissenters from the established Luther anism, no army, navy, volunteers, or other guardians of public order (except one policeman iu Reykjavik), no crimi na's, only two lawyers, and finally no snakes. “What, then, is there?” Snow mountains, glaciers, hot springs, volcanoes, earthquakes, northern lights, ravens, morasses, and above all, deserts. Or rather —there is the desert! For Icelaud —and this is a point which none of the books of travel bring out—lce land is really one va t desert fringed by a belt of pasture land which lies along the more level parts of the coast, and Imre and there runs up the valleys of the great rivers into the interior. * And a desert iu Iceland does no f mean mere ly a land waste and solitary, such as largo parts of Scotland and Ireland have become (especially since deer for ests grew so profitable), but land that has always teen and will always be desolate —land bare and drear, treeless, shrubless, grassless, where not a sheep or pony can browse, and where by con sequence man can never plant his dwell ing. Of this great central space a part is occupied by glaciers and snow fields. One tremendous mass, out of which the higest peaks of the island rie, covers an area of some four thousand square miles, has never been crossed, and never will be. The mountains are not very high; but then the level of the perpetual snow is only some 8,000 feet above the sea, and the larger glaciers descend almost to the sea-level. Other parts are filled by volcanic moun tains surrounded by fields of rugged lava, sometimes like the great Odaoa Hraun, spreading over hundreds of miles, and not only barren but water less. The rest is an undulating waste of black volcanic sands and pebbles, or perhaps, what is most dismal of all, an expanse of bare earth strewed with loose blocks of stone, from among which no herb springs, over which the nimble pony can hardly pick its way. On the lava fields one may have at least shrub lets of dwarf birch and willow, nest ling, with a few tiny ferns, in the chinks and hollows of the mouldering rock, but on these stony wastes all is desolation —not a flower, not an insect, not a bird, except the sombre raven, Odin’s com panion, least of all a sign of human presence. A far less imaginative people than the Icelanders might easily have peopled such a wilderness with trolls and demon 3 . m In Iceland the contrast between the man and the house he lives in is the strongest possible, and oversets in a de lightful manner all one’s English no tions of fitness. He is poor, to be sure, poor in the sense of having very little ready money—there is less money in all Iceland than in many an English coun try town. But he is a person ot some substance and respectability. He is in no danger of want; is the owner of horses, sheep and oxen, very likely of broad lands which his family has held for centuries. His pedigree not improb ably goes back further than that of all but three families in England. He con siders himself altogether your equal, behaves as such (though he now no lon ger hesitates to receive some remunera tion for his hospitality), aud such, in fach he is. Along with a certain want of finish in some of his personal habits, he has a complete ease and independ ence of manner, and a simple courtesy, which, as it flows from this ease, is in no danger of being mistaken for servility. He is,' moreover, an educated man, who, if a priest, speaks a little Latin, any how, perhaps a little Danish, has learnt pretty much all that the island has to teach him, and is certain to be familiar with the master-pieces of his own ancient literature. It is the knowl edge of the Sagas that has more than anything else given a measure of eleva tion as well as culture to his mind. It has stimulated his imagination, and ad ded to his people and country a sort of historical dignity which their position iu the modern world could never entitle them to. It has also cultivated his taste, given him a turn for reading gen erally, made him capable of taking in ideas. Few are the houses in Iceland which do not contain a library; and twice in spots of rather exceptional wretchedness, I found exceptionally good ones—one chiefly of legal and his torical neatness, the other an excellent collection of Sagas and poetry, in a lonely and miserable hovel at the foot of Hekla. It is a remarkable evidence of the power of an old literature which has struck deep root in the minds and affection of the people that, ever since the golden days when that literature sprang up, there have not been wanting, except for about a century and a half before the reformation, poets as well as prose writeis of substantial merit. The last fifty years have produced several highly valued, and, so far as the stran ger can judge, rightly valued by their countrymen ; and one is told that at this moment “to be a good skaid,” as the S?gas express it, is no rare accom plishment, and that many of the farm ers and priests at whose houses we Payable in Advance. NUMBER 21. stayed are able to turn a neat sonnet on occasion, just as their ancestors were wont to pour forth those strange little poems (visus) which are the despair of interpreters. Strangest of all, this lit erature has preserved the language al most untouched by the wearing and va rying influences of time and foreign in tercourse. Modern Icelandic has adopt ed a very few Danish and Latin words, has dropped a few old grammatical forms, and has introduced some slightly different modes of construction. But for all essential purposes, it is the Ice landic of the twelfth century. Some of the people had just heard of the fall of Louis Napoleon two years before ; but not a question was put as to the war or its results on France, and when one volunteered remarks they ex cited no interest. Once or twice I was asked whether London was not a large town, and if I had seen while in Amer ica the Icelandic colony at Milwaukee, but here curiosity about foreign coun tries stopped. The fact was that they did not know enough about the phenom ena of the world outside to know what to ask about it; while as to its politics or social or literary movements, they felt that nothing that happened there would or could make any difference to them. To them at least what the French call the “ solidarity of the peoples” has not any meaning or application. No political revolution, no ascendancy of democracy or imperialism, no revival oc decay of literature or art, no soientifir invention, will substantially affect their lives. Steam and the telegraph have done nothing for them, for there is not a steam-engine or galvanic battery in the country ; and though a steamboat visits them six times a year, trade is not more brisk than in the old days. Even those discoveries which seem of the most universal utility, discoveries in medicine and surgery, are practically useless to them, who have but one doctor. Our British Cousins. A loyal American lady, writing from London, thus gives her opinion of the system of “tips” on the European plan : In addition to the ordinary expenses of bed and board in London must be reckoned a large tribute paid to the in iquitous European system of “ tips.” It is strange enough to an American, wont ed to the lavish liberality of our thea trical managers, to be obliged to pay for the programme he uses at the thea tre or opera. And also'so strange that probably he will not at first comprehend it is the daughter-of-the-liorse -leech look which the usher who shows him his seat at the opera or theatre gives him if he does not voluntarily slip sixpence into said ushei’s palm. You cannot inquire your way in the street, that, in all pro bability, the interrogated will not reply, “ I can’t describe tne way, but I’m just going there and will show you.” That means a shilling—thirty cents in Amer can currency, although only twenty-four cents in American coin. You see one can take a cab almost as economically as to inquire the way. The waiter who brings me a single cup of chocolate in a cake shop hangs about my presence as if responsible for the one spoon with which I sip the berverage, till I bethink myself that I am in the laud of leeches, and give him his expected “ tip.” If I cross the stre t, a filthy wretch darts be fore me with a stump of abroom, and, stir ring up all the dirt possible in so short a time, to make my passage a triumphal march of dirtiness, and my raiment like unto the raiment of the confederate army in color, stands whining for his tip. I cannot call a cab that another loafer does not dart forward to open the door for me, and stand with a mouthful of curses ready if I fail to render him tribute of a penny or two. One cannot go into many of the city churches on week days, that someone, verger or pew opener, does not force companion ship upon you, to the tune of six pence. It is astonishing that even the low born Britisher (and he is among the very dregs of civilized humanity) is not ashamed of this everlasting lying in wait for “tips,” like a margy cur sneaking after every wayfarer to snap up whatever may fall from his store. It is depressing to one’s optimistic views of the dignity of human nature— quenching to one’s faith that all charac ter is the evolution of a Divine idea, to live weeks in this mighty Babylon, and to be bled at every pore as only the base-born Briton knows how to bleed. The cab system of London is quoted abroad as the very climax and acme of public vehicular perfection. But one doesn’t realize, till he tries the system, that these quotations don’t go far enough to exhaust the subject. It seems exceedingly reasonable to be charged but a shilling a mile for cab fare ; but it must be borne in mind that, for every English shilling that we Americans possess, we have paid thirty cents of our currency ; and, moreover, tnat an English cabby’s miles, when an American is his passenger, measure sev eral furlongs less than a surveyor’s. And, moreover, the London cabman will never touch bis fiDger to your bag gage, and you are compelled to pay one porter sixpence (fifteen cents), or a shilling, if you have more than one piece, for putting it on the cab, and an other the same for taking it off, while cabby, like a sweet little cherub, sits up aloft, severely indifferent to your pangs as you pay out your money for what an American Jehu would consider a part of his obligation. When one leaves a house in which he has been either guest or boarder, the servants gather about his exit as vul tures about carrion, that no one may miss probable “tips.” —A London letter says of the orator ical powers of the English princes; “Every son of Victoria, as soon as he gets toward the beard growing stages, blooms out as a public speaker ; they never are by chance damned by even faint applause. The ‘gift of gab’ is as fully developed in these princes as in any Yankee schoolboy who spouts ‘ Nor val’ or ‘ Casa 1 ianca.’ Especially en dowed is the Prince of Wales with this divine afflatus, nor is he chary of im parting its refreshment to others. The prince speaks on every possible occa sion ; and though he is, perhaps, over generous with his adjectives and super latives, it must be confessed that, for a prince, he acquits himself remarkably well.” EASTMAN TIMES. RATES OF ADVERTISING: stack. l iu. 3m. 3m. 13 m. One square $ 4 00| $ 7 00 $ 1000 $ 16 00 Two squares 625 12 00 18 OOi 25 00 Four squares 975 19 00 28 00 39 00 One-fourth col U6O 22 50| 34 00 46 00 One-half col 20 00l 32 501 65 00 80 00 One column 35 ou| 60 00' 80 001 130 Ot Advertisements inserted at the rate of $1.60 per square for the first insertion, and 75 cents for each subsequent one. Ten lines or less constitute a square. Professional cards, $15.00 ppr annum; for six months, SIO.OO, in advance. FACTS AND FANCIES. —Permanent rest is not expected on the road, but at the end of the journey. —A Georgia girl has been the cause of three duels aud ten fights, and she’s a cross-eyed girl at that. —The man who cares for nobody, and for whom nobody cares, has nothing to live for that will pay for keeping of sonl and body together. —At forty years of age a man looks back over his life and wonders what he did it for, and then turns wistfully to ward the future, aud keeps on doing it. —Mabel—“ Yes ! that young man is very fond of kissing.” Mater—“ Mabel, who ever told you such nonseuse?” Mabel—“l had it from his own lips?” —A German in New York being asked how much sourkrout he had put up for winter use, replied : “ I’s not got much. Little more as ten barrels—sbust for sickness.” —A member of the Mississippi legis lature has been censured for carrying a brick in his pocket to hit another mem ber with, but he says he is not able to buy a shot-gun. —Whoever has gone through much of life must remember that ho has thrown away a great deal of useless un easiness upon what was much worse in apprehension than reality; —A Wisconsin widow, a frail, tender flower, who was under the doctor’s care, stole a bag of wheat and carried it half a mile. As the aged Weller remarked, you can’t trust “widders.” —“ Mother,” said Iko Partington, “did you know that the iron horse has but one ear?” “One ear! Merciful gracious, child ! what do you mean !” “ Why, the engineer, of course !” —The negroes of the inundated re gions of the Mississippi are showing a disposition to quit work entirely as long as free lunch lasts, and the charity committees are much embarrassed. —A man who fell into a vat of boil ing lard aud got out alive, says that it was not an unpleasant sensation after the first moment, but he thought what a mighty queer shaped doughnut lie would make. —An lowa engineer married a young lady while waiting for a late train last week. That’s no great shakes. A cou ple might marry and raise a large fam ily of children while waiting for a train in some of the Indiana depots. —“ I tell you,” said a Wisconsin man to a neighbor next day after burying his wife, “when I came to get into bed, and lay thar, and not hearing Lucinda jawing around lor an hour anti a half, it just made me feel as if I’d moved into a strange countiy.” —“ Veil, and vat to you sink tit hap pen to me at Matarna Tussaud’s, de oder day ? A laty dook me for von of de vax vickers, and agdually abbollo chised vor her mistake!” “Oh, what fun, Mr. Schmitz ! And was it iu the Chamber of Horrors ?” —A strange set those Duukards. They have decided tnat a Dunkard may wear a full beard, but not a mustache only ; that members may not engage in banking business, as it leads to cov etousness and usury, and that it is un advisable to send boys to college. —London is literally built of a foun dation of pipes. In some places it would be difficult to find room to lay another pipe. One gas company sup plies two districts with 400 miles of pipes, the lead and iron pneumatic tubes, the sewers, the water pipes and the underground railway. —Fashionable milliner: “You’ll have the flower on the left side of the bon net, of course, madam ?” Fashionable lady: “Well—er—no! The fact is, there’s a pillar on the left side of my head in church, so that only the right side of my head is seen by the congre gation. Of course, I could change my pew !” Fashionable lady’s husband ; “Ya—as. Or even the church, you know, if necessary.” Fashionable mil liner considers the point. A Rich Old Gentleman Frightens the Treasury Officials. The house committee on banking and currency have been for some time se cretly investigating the source from which the large a mount of fractional currency, which was first issued and known as “postal currency,” has been put in circulation. The committee were apprised very early in the session, through the treasury officials, that a large amount of this currency of the first issue, unquestionably genuine and quite fresh and new, was in circulation, and was being constantly presented for redemption. The secret service depart ment of the government has been at work on the case for a long time in con nection with the committee, and it is now fully established that the entire amount had be n put in circulation by a very eccentric and wealthy old gen tleman, who, when then this first issue of the fractional currency was made, deposited a large quantity of it in his safe and never had paid it out until very recently. The secretary at first thought of issuing a circular warning the public against taking it. It was afterward thought the original plates had been stolen. Kicking Cows. A few years ago I had considerable experience with kicking cows, and bv far the best remedy out of quite a num ber that I have tried was the strap or surcingle drawn tightly around the cow just in front of the hips and close to the bag. Tighten it up till she does not attempt to kick. I never knew it to fail. Yon can gradually loosen it until it will be sufficient simply to lay it on her back. But be cautious and do not loosen or leave it off until she makes no effort to kick with it tight or not. Kick she cannot wbh the strap tight. The first cow I tried it on was the worst I ever saw. With both hind legs tied together she would kick backward like a horse ; and theD, in addition, one fore leg was tied up ; and she would stand upon the other and kick with both hind legs as soon as an attempt was made to milk her, till she tumbled down ; then would get up and kick again until tired out; so the milk was generally left on the stable floor, and it was decided to dry her up and beef her as soon as pos sible, though an extra cow. —Country Gentleman.